Sectional chair.



P. W. ANDERSON.

SEGTIONAL CHAIR. APPLICATION FILED NOVL5,1907

Patehted Nov. 17, 1908.

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FORTESQUE WELLINGTON ANDERSON, OF MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK.

SECTIONAL CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rammed Nov. 17, 1908.

Application filed. November 5, 1907. Serial No. 400,824.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F ORTESQUE ELLING- 'rox ikNDERSON, a citizen of theUnited 1 States, residing at Middletown, county of l Orange, State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SectionalChairs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My object is the construction of a chair, I

- the various parts of which shall be joined in a more permanent andsubstantial man ner than by the methods heretofore employed, and, at thesame time, allow certain parts to be assembled by the purchaser withoutthe use of tools, or special skill, thereby permitting closer packingfor shipment or storage. This result I obtain by assembling the parts,which I shall designate as the sides, at the factory and by a simple yetnovel device for attaching the seat and back to the said sides in apositive and durable manner, as is hereinafter fully described andillustrated.

\Vith these and other objects in View, the invention consists in thenovel construction and arrangement of the parts hereinafter described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference marks indicatesimilar parts: Figure 1 shows a completed chair in perspective. Fig. 2is a view of a bisected portion of the post and back with thefinishing-and-locking knob. Fig. 3 shows a top view of the post joinedto a portion of the back. Fig. l gives a detail of a portion of the topside stretcher joined to a part of the seat, bisected at the line, 00:0. Fig. 5 shows a bisected view at the line, y y, of parts of the topside stretcher, seat and front post; and Fig. 6 is a view of the joiningof the same stretcher to the front post.

In Fig. l, a, designates the back post, b, the top side stretcher, c,the front post and, (Z, the bottom side stretcher, the several partscombined to form the side c, c, e, 6, shows the manner of joining thecomponent parts of the sides by means of a tongue of dovetailedcross-section, preferably having the heart shape shown, and acorresponding groove cut laterally across the width of the posts andstretchers. I 1 adopt this form of tongue and groove as an l improvementover the old style of dovetail because by reason of the roundedconfiguration there is less liability of the material crumbling off inthe course of manu faoture, thereby insuring a more nearly perfootjoint, and also because of the more symmetrical appearance.

The joining of the top stretcher to the front post at f, is accomplishedby a vertical groove and tongue as shown in Fig. 6, the said stretcherrising somewhat above the front post to form an offset in which isreceived the lug, g at the front of the joined portion, 9 of the seat,h. The main part of the seat, /l, is joined to the portion, 9, forstrength and to cover the joints shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The seat, h, Fig. 1, is made with tongues of the same heart shapedsection running straight along the side edges to engage thecorresponding grooves in the side stretchers,

a sectional view of which is given in Fig. 4:.

The back, 2', Fig. l, is provided with heartshaped tongues extendingalong the length of both side edges to engage the corresponding groovesin the back posts, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

In the final operation of assembling the chair, the seat 1s firstintroduced into the grooves of the side stretchers consecutively; nextthe back is slid down the grooves of the posts, and lastly, thefinishing-and-locking knobs, j, are inserted with glue or screws, whicheffectually prevents its withdrawal, also covering the joint and thefront cross portion 9 is placed with its lug 9 over the joints of thetop side stretcher and resting upon the upper ends of the posts 0.

An important feature of my invention is the strength and permanency ofthe joints, thereby requiring fewer parts and less material to constructa chair. A further advantage lies in the ease with which the workmanshipcan be inspected, while in the common methods of chair making none butthe workman himself can be absolutely sure that his work is thoroughlywell done. The construction permits the sides, back and seat to be againseparated after assembling, if desired for any reason, or these portionsmay be permanently joined by glue applied to the tongues and grooves orby other means.

Modifications may be made in the forms and proportions and in variousminor details without departing from the principle of the invention orsacrificing its advantages.

I claim:

1. In a sectional chair, a side member comprising a back post, a sidestretcher joined at one end to the post by direct horizontal tongue andgroove connection, a front post having direct vertical tongue and grooveconnection with stretcher, and a bottom side stretcher having directhorizontal tongue and groove connection with the front and back posts,combined with a companion side member, a seat member having directtongue and groove connection with the upper side stretchers, laterallugs at the front received in offsets of the front ends of the top sidestretchers and concealing the joints between the front of thesidestretchers and the front posts and resting upon said posts, and a backhaving direct tongue and groove connection with the rear posts.

2. In a sectional chair, a side-member comprising a back post, a sidestretcher joined at one end to the post by direct horizontal tongue andgroove connection, a front post having direct vertical tongue and grooveconnection with the front end of said stretcher, and a bottom sidestretcher having direct horizontal tongue and groove connection with thefront and back posts, combined with a companion side member, a seatmember having direct tongue and groove connection with the upper sidestretch'ers, lateral lugs at the front received in offsets of the frontends of the top side stretchers and concealing the joints between thefront of L the side stretchers and the front posts and resting upon saidposts, a back having direct the front end of said tongue and grooveconnection with the rear ering the joints between the back and the rearposts and locking the former against withdrawal.

3. A sectional chair composed of back posts having horizontal dovetailgrooves in their front faces and dovetail vertical grooves in theiradjacent faces, front posts having horizontal dovetail grooves in theirrear faces and vertical dovetail grooves in their upper ends upon theirrear faces, bottom side stretchers having dovetail tongues engaged inthe lowermost horizontal grooves of said posts, top side stretchershaving at one end horizontal dovetail tongues engaged in the upperhorizontal grooves of the rear posts and vertical dovetail tonguesengaged in the vertical grooves of the front posts, a back havingdovetail tongues engaged in the vertical grooves of the rear posts and aseat having dovetail tongues upon opposite sides engaging in dovetailgrooves of the top side stretchers and having lateral lugs received inoffsets of the front ends of the top side stretchers and resting uponthe upper ends of the front posts and upon the vertical dovetail tonguesof the front ends of the side stretchers.

In testimony that above set forth I aflix ence of two witnesses.

F. WELLINGTON ANDERSON.

I claim the invention my signature, 1n preslVitnesses ALFRED M. HonroN,CLARENCE LEMON.

